The Monroe was a

Brass Era The Brass Era is an American term for the early period of automotive manufacturing, named for the prominent brass fittings used during this time for such things as lights and radiators. It is generally considered to encompass 1896 through 191 ...

and

vintage car A vintage car is, in the most general sense, an old automobile, and in the narrower senses of car enthusiasts and collectors, it is a car from the period of 1919 to 1930. Such enthusiasts have categorization schemes for ages of cars that en ...

built in

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of 8 ...

(1914–1916),

Pontiac, Michigan Pontiac ( ') is a city in and the county seat of Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 61,606. A northern suburb of Metro Detroit, Pontiac is about northwest of Detroit. Founde ...

(1916–1918), and

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

(1918-1923).

History

In the mid-teens, R. F. Monroe was head of the Monroe Body Company in Pontiac, while

William C. Durant William Crapo Durant (December 8, 1861 – March 18, 1947) was a leading pioneer of the United States automobile industry and co-founder of General Motors and Chevrolet. He created a system in which a company held multiple marques – each s ...

headed

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

in Flint. These two worked together to form Monroe Motor Company in Flint in August 1914. Monroe was president, while Durant was vice-president. There was a cross-stockholding arrangement between the Monroe and Chevrolet companies. Construction of the Monroe cars occurred in a plant formerly used by Chevrolet in Flint, and the Chevrolet company undertook to distribute the new Monroe

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

. In April 1916, Durant resigned his vice-presidency, and the Monroe company moved into the former Welch factory in Pontiac. The company was now reorganized as the Monroe Motor Car Company, with a

capitalization Capitalization (American English) or capitalisation (British English) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in lower case, in writing systems with a case distinction. The term a ...

increase to $1,000,000. This company went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

in 1918. In the fall of the same year, the William Small Company of Indianapolis bought the assets of the Monroe company. The Small company had previously distributed Monroes in Indianapolis. The Pontiac factory was now leased to

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

for production of the

Samson Samson (; , '' he, Šīmšōn, label= none'', "man of the sun") was the last of the judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Book of Judges (chapters 13 to 16) and one of the last leaders who "judged" Israel before the institution o ...

truck. Monroe production was then carried out in Indianapolis only. The showroom was located at 602 N. Capitol Street in Indianapolis and the building still stands today. The Monroe had started as a light, small car, with only open cars on offer. By 1918 they came equipped with an engine of the company's own design, and a sedan was included in the price lists by 1918. At this time,

Louis Chevrolet Louis-Joseph Chevrolet (; December 25, 1878 – June 6, 1941) was a Swiss-American race car driver, mechanic and entrepreneur who co-founded the Chevrolet Motor Car Company in 1911. Early life Louis-Joseph Chevrolet was born on December 25, 1 ...

was brought in by William Small as a

consulting A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

to "work out design problems for the Monroe car." Chevrolet had little impact on the production Monroe car, but he did assemble seven race cars with Cornelius Van Ranst. Three of these were raced as Frontenacs, while the other four used the Monroe name. Louis Chevrolet's brother,

Gaston Gaston is a masculine given name of French origin and a surname. The name "Gaston" may refer to: People First name *Gaston I, Count of Foix (1287–1315) *Gaston II, Count of Foix (1308–1343) *Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391) *Gaston ...

, won the 1920

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indi ...

in a Monroe. This was the first time an American car won at the

Speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta *Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana Types of races and race cours ...

since 1912. The Monroe team was the first to use radio communication to the driver in 1922. A car driven by Wilbur D'Alene with mechanic Worth Schloeman was fitted with the radio equipment.Indianapolis Star May 3rd 1922 "Racing Car With Radio Outfit" Later the same summer, the William Small Company went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver—a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights"—especially in ca ...

. After various

refinancing Refinancing is the replacement of an existing debt obligation with another debt obligation under a different term and interest rate. The terms and conditions of refinancing may vary widely by country, province, or state, based on several economic ...

s, the

American Fletcher National Bank American Fletcher National Bank was an Indianapolis-based bank founded in 1839 that was eventually absorbed by Bank One and later Chase Bank. Since the merger of the Fletcher Trust Company with the American National Bank to form the American Flet ...

of Indianapolis purchased the Monroe assets in January 1922. In March of the next year, Strattan Motors Corporation bought the Monroe company. Frank E Strattan, the owner of Strattan Motors, was rumored to be also considering purchasing the

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

factory, also in Indianapolis. Strattan declared that the Monroe would continue to be built, but be joined by a lower-priced car called the Strattan. Just a few months later, in order to concentrate on his Strattan car, Frank Strattan sold the Monroe company to Frederick Barrows of Premier. After this latest purchase, the company was organized as Monroe Motors, Inc., but soon it was absorbed by the Premier company. The last Monroes transformed into the Premier Model B.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monroe (Automobile) Brass Era vehicles Vintage vehicles Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of the United States Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Indiana Defunct companies based in Indiana 1910s cars 1920s cars Cars introduced in 1914 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1914 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1923 Motor vehicle manufacturers based in Michigan